George Blumenthal, UCSC professor of astronomy and astrophysics and
2001-03 chair of the UCSC Academic Senate, has been elected vice chair
of the UC Academic
Senate. The senate chair and vice chair serve as faculty representatives
at meetings of the UC Board of Regents.

George BlumenthalUCSC Photo Services

Faculty representatives do not vote, but by Regental policy are fully
included in all discussion and debate, including Regents-only sessions.
They also serve on all committees of the Regents.

Blumenthal's term as vice chair lasts one year, beginning September
1. After that, he will become chair, serving another yearlong term.
"The next two years will be most interesting, given the budget
situation, a new president and UC provost, and the upcoming decision
on whether UC should bid on the contract for the Los Alamos National
Lab. I very much look forward to the challenge," Blumenthal said.

Blumenthal will be the second UCSC faculty member to serve as chair of
the systemwide senate: Michael Cowan, senior adviser to the chancellor
and professor and chair of American Studies, served as chair in the 2000-01
year.back to top

Mark Cianca chosen to lead Enterprise
Portal Implementation Project

Mark Cianca, director of Academic Information
Systems, has been named director of the Enterprise Portal Implementation
Project. His charge for the two-year appointment is to establish and extend
portal capabilities for the entire campus. At the same time, Cianca will
maintain his commitment to the AIS project.

Beth Riddle also provides leadership for the portal project by chairing
the Web Presence and Portal Readiness Committee, which will coordinate
the integration points with the campus portal project, the directory project,
and campus web presence developments.

The portal project is an essential component of information technology
(IT) infrastructure that is specifically intended to assist the campus
in reducing costs (see story on IT consolidation
in this issue of Currents).back to top